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The first White Tree of Gondor came from a fruit that Isildur, at great personal risk, managed to steal from Nimloth the Fair, the White Tree of Númenor, before that one was destroyed at Sauron's insistence. He suffered many wounds at this mission, and he came near death, but when the first leaf opened in the spring, Isildur was healed of his wounds.

This sapling was brought to Middle-earth on Isildur's ship, and it was eventually planted in Minas Ithil before the house of Isildur. But when Sauron returned to Middle-earth, he launched a sudden attack in S.A.3429 that captured Minas Ithil, and he burned the White Tree. Isildur escaped taking with him again a sapling.

When Aragorn became king he discovered (with Gandalf's help) a sapling of the White Tree on the high hallow upon the slopes of Mindolluin, high above the city, which he reverently planted in its place. In June of T.A.3019 the sapling bloomed.[2][note 1]

Notes

↑ There is an inconsistency in dates: according to Appendix B, Elessar found the sapling on June 25; however the chapter The Steward and the King states that "when the month of June entered in it was laden with blossom", suggesting here that Aragorn planted the sapling before June began.